


Henry Hart vs. Anxiety

by Frog_that_writes



Category: Henry Danger (TV)
Genre: Panic Attacks, charlotte and jasper being great friends, henry's terrible fanon self esteem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:21:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22518427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frog_that_writes/pseuds/Frog_that_writes
Summary: Charlotte and Jasper comfort Henry through a panic attack, and try to convince him to cut himself some slack along the way.
Relationships: Charlotte Bolton & Jasper Dunlop & Henry Hart
Comments: 6
Kudos: 85





	Henry Hart vs. Anxiety

**Author's Note:**

> obviously contains descriptions of a panic attack, but it written from an outside perspective. don't read if it'll be harmful to you

"Alright Henry, that's it, just match my breathing okay?" Charlotte soothed. 

Her words were met with a sharp nod and no clear decline in breathing speed, and she shared a worried look with her other friend over Henry's head. Jasper looked just as helpless. 

"There you go, hold it for 1.. 2… 3… 4, yeah keep going, Hen." He said. "Slowly-" 

Whatever else Jasper has been saying was cut off with the shrill cry of the bell and Henry's hand tightening almost painfully in her clutch. 

"You guys should go back to class," Henry forced out with no small amount of effort between heaving breaths. "I'm g- I'm fine, I can-"

"As if," Jasper snorted. "No way are we leaving you here." 

"Class is important. Char you have the- uh, the test thing? I'm sorry, you need to go to class," the wonderful but stupid boy sitting beside her attempted to let go of her hand, but Charlotte just held on tight. His other hand escaped Jasper's grasp and wedged itself in his hair, pulling tightly at the strands. 

"C'mon, none of that," Jasper admonished lightly, gently guiding the hand back into his own. "Class can always wait for you."

Charlotte cut off Henry's attempts to disagree before they could even start. "I can always make up my test tomorrow, Mrs. Sharp likes me for some reason." 

"S'cause you're smart," Henry pointed out, breath mercifully slowly down out of necessity as he continued talking. "All our teachers like you." 

"Except Mr. Callabry."

"He's just a stupid art teacher." 

"Just because he teaches art, a class I happen to suck at, doesn't mean he's stupid," Charlotte laughed. 

"Doesn't mean he has to be such a dick to you," Jasper said. Henry made a noise of agreement. 

Charlotte hummed, and there was a moment of silence broken only by Henry's hitching but slowly evening breaths. Their next period was half over by the time any of them spoke again, but Charlotte couldn't honestly care less. 

"I'm sorry," Henry said eventually. The two pressed up beside him couldn't have been faster with their immediate disagreements had they been robots programmed for the task. 

"Shut up," Charlotte commanded, followed by Jasper's "Don't be." 

"I made you guys skip class to come sit in a bathroom with me and watch me freak out because I was an idiot," Henry huffed. "You can't convince me not to feel bad about that." 

"Even if I can't, that doesn't mean I won't try," Jasper said. "Eventually we'll get it into your thick skull that you don't have to apologize for being human." 

"I should be better than this," he whispered. 

"Says who?" Charlotte challenged.

"Ray, or-"

"Ray's an asshole," they said in unison. 

"Fair," he snorted, the action sending him into a small coughing fit that had both of them worried his breath would once more grow uneven. Thankfully, he came out of it smiling, albeit weakly.

"If you won't let me apologize can I at least say thank you?"

"If you must," Charlotte said. "Are you going to be okay going back to class? Because I don't mind sitting with you for the rest of the day if you need to, but someone might get mad eventually that we're hogging the only gender neutral bathroom in the school." 

"No, it's fine, I don't know what even set me off in the first place. It was stupid." 

"I'm no expert but I'm assuming it probably had something to do with some jerk shoulder checking you against your into a locker and you hitting your still damaged arm," Jasper said with clear disapproval in his voice. 

"Yeah, which is really dumb. It's not like I react like this when I'm in a fight and getting hurt way worse." 

"Well, you can fight back then, can’t you?" Charlotte was starting to get worked up herself now, mind flashing through all of the horrible things the boy beside her goes through on a daily basis. She would probably never know for sure what would have happened had Henry not taken up this job, but she would likely never forgive Ray for even making it an option. 

Because she knew Henry well enough to know that the panic attack had come about because of his instincts telling at him to fight back, that if he just stayed there they would get another hit in and then another until he would never be able to fight back again. Add to that the fact that Jasper was there and he couldn't protect him from the perceived threat? It was no wonder he had reacted this way, his flight or fight reflexes forced into repression. 

It was silent once more until another bell rang.

"I don't want to go back to class," Henry silently admitted. "I should, because I miss enough already dealing with Kid Danger stuff, but I have Mrs. Folcarn next period and she always makes jokes about how she doesn't know how I got into her class and-" he cut himself off. "I just don't think I can deal with the rest of the world right now." 

"Okay," Charlotte nodded in understanding and began formulating a plan. "So, the internet is down right now which means they can't do period attendance. Therefore, the office hasn't noticed us missing, and all of our teachers will just assume we were absent all day. All we have to do is leave without the office noticing us."

"Even if they do, it's not like any of our parents will give a shit about getting a call saying we're cutting class," Jasper pointed out.

"Fair, okay, let's go." 

"Are you sure you guys don't just want to go back to class? I'll be fine," Henry protested as they gently led him towards the front of the building. 

"You're still shaking," Jasper pointed out. "We're not going to let you drive like this. Besides, there's only two periods left now, school can wait."

They quickly got into Charlotte's car on principle of it being the closest and carefully made their way out of the school parking lot. The two in the front kept up a quiet conversation all the way to Henry's house, cognizant of the fact that he was nearly asleep the moment he sat down on the backseat. 

He let out a quiet noise when eventually the car stopped in his driveway. 

"Oh, we're here," he said. "Do you guys want to come in? You don't have to, obviously, but my mom is still m.i.a and I think my dad is on a work trip so you don't have to worry about my parents." 

"We'll stay," Charlotte confirmed. "But… you  _ think _ your dad is on a trip?" She asked with a raised eyebrow despite the fact that Henry couldn't see it as they climbed out of her car. 

"Yeah, he just left two days ago with a note saying 'Be back in a week' and two hundred dollars to get groceries on our counter."

"God our parents suck," Jasper sighed. 

"Tell me about it," Henry laughed as he unlocked the door. 

They barely made it into his room before Henry collapsed on his couch, following routine enough to sit in the middle so his friends could squeeze on either side of him.

"We're getting too big for this thing," Charlotte said, more pointing out a fact that complaining. 

"It’s crazy to think we're already juniors. The future is as imminent as it is terrifying."

They all made the identical faces that all high schoolers make when reminded that they're soon approaching the end of their childhood and laughed. But after Henry's recent panic attack and the still drying tear tracks on his face, Charlotte figured it would probably be best to change the course of the conversation. It would probably help that pool of dread in her stomach as well. 

"We should have an old fashioned sleep over," she suggested. "Pull out all the stops. Eat a nauseating amount of popcorn, watch avengers movies until are eyes are too dry to stay open anymore, normal teen stuff."

"That sounds nice," Henry allowed. "But only if you guys are going to have fun and not just be worried about me all night."

Charlotte supposed she could do that, even if she was entitled a little worrying after the days events. It had taken a lot of her to avoid her own panic attack when Jasper had messaged her before fifth period as she was on her way to class to "get to the gn bathroom by cafeteria quick" and then seeing the state her best friend was in. But Henry didn't need her to hover, he needed her to slap him with a pillow when he complained about her movie chooses, and that's what she would do. 

Because life was stressful, a constant never ending sea of criminals to beat and tests to take and scholarship applications essays to write, but they were going to get through it together, holding hands every step of the way. And no one got to tell them otherwise. 

**Author's Note:**

> hope y'all enjoyed. henry's feelings about his own panic attacks are not my own and just because he has shit self esteem  
> plz leave a kudo or a comment if you liked this, it's a great way to support authors!


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